Monday, June 12, 2017

40 From 40: 1977

You know God Save The Queen didn't really outsell Rod Stewart in Jubilee week before the BBC or whoever is supposed to have been responsible fixed the chart, right? Nobody's ever provided more than hearsay proof usually second hand from Malcolm McLaren or Richard Branson at their most quote-searching, the record was banned from chart return stores all over the place (remember "total sales" and "total sales registered for the official chart" were not the same thing, BRMB basing their returns on diaries compiled by up to 750 nationwide stores), the NME chart placing often brought up as proof is all over the place due to print deadlines and the difference in the type of shops diarised leading to natural differences between that and the main list (and it peaked at 5 in Melody Maker's chart, and somehow Never Mind The Bollocks topped BRMB but not NME), it's been officially registered as selling less than 300,000 for the year, and The First Cut Is The Deepest was shown as ahead when the BPI opened up their audited sales reports some time ago. 12,000 was the difference that week, apparently, at a time of a general sales level meaning that if Stewart really had been outsold two to one that week as often claimed his double A side wouldn't even have been number two. Also John Lydon says he was never bothered about whether it was fixed or not, so you can drop about it if he can. Anyway, a lot more than you're ever going to want to see has already been written about how 1977 was a watershed year for that whole punk thing, so here there's loads of angry/angular men with guitars (and the odd female singer) plus a wodge of early and thus fascinatingly exploratory electro, a handful of funk, disco and reggae, some more streamlined pop and AOR inventiveness, and also Mr Blue Sky, because it may now be illegal not to register it when you have the chance. This is the twentieth 40 From 40, so be reassured that at least there's only this long again to go.